My New Best Friend

Meet the Roomba 560, my new best friend. I have fantasized about having one of these forever. Our dog sheds so bad that our floors are furry just a day (even hours) after a thorough vacuuming. I have told people that I wanted a Roomba for a long time. See Little Buddy is terrified of the vacuum cleaner and then when he takes a nap or goes to sleep it is too noisy, plus usually I am ready to drop or do laundry, cleaning, unwinding, etc. So the floors just get furrier and furrier and crumbier too. Dirty floors really depress me and I felt like there was little I could do to remedy the situation.

About 2 weeks ago as my 36th birthday was approaching (February 9th). Some family members were calling my hubby asking what I wanted for my birthday. My SMIL remembered that I had wanted a Roomba and asked if that would be a good idea, seeing as though most women do not want appliances for gifts unless they are requested. My husband told her it was an awesome idea and so 6 of my husbands family members went in on one for me. Imagine my delight and surprise when I opened a big box in the middle of a restaurant during my birthday brunch and the whole place saw the Roomba box.

I think that older Roomba's were not as good as the current newer and improved models. They got a bum rap for years but I still thought it was an ingenious idea. The night I got it I came home and instantly started to charge it. I had heard all kinds of stories about them getting caught up in stuff or the compartment being too small, so I made sure to pick up and move lots of things. I moved electric cords, tiny little toys, picked up chairs, shoved furniture apart so Roomba could clean between it, swept out the corners and any other dirty nooks that Roomba cannot fit in, I also removed storage bins from under the beds. Then I let Roomba do it's thing. WOW! It did the whole room and then shut off when it had gone over everything (I think twice). The dust piles I had swept out of corners or nooks were all gone, the area rugs, ceramic AND hardwood was all clean. The biggest reward to when I turned the Roomba over and opened up the dirt chamber. YOWZAH!!! Now, I don't know about you but I like to see dirt when I clean, like on the dust rag, vacuum chamber, dust pile, etc. I know, I'm weird but I think most of us are like that. I would also like to say that I am making sure to empty the dirt chamber after each room so it does not overload or break. This thing is a priceless gem to me.

I also really only let it do one room at a time. The first night I was sitting and relaxing and went on the internet and my floors were being cleaned . . . . . . . . . . AS I RELAXED!!!!! Ha! If cars, large screen tv's, motorcycles, etc. can get a guy all hot and bothered, then this is the woman's equivalent.

A few drawbacks to be completely thorough with this product review. It cannot clean corners. It has gotten stuck under the side of one dresser and the pipes near the furnace once. It just sounds a warning tone and turns itself off. I have no idea how it would handle an area rug fringe but I think you could possibly just tuck it under? It cannot vacuum my carpeted stairs. The only thing in our house that is carpeted. I will need to buy a dirt devil soon cause using the humongous vacuum to clean them is completely back breaking and not at all thorough. Oh, one last thing is that you should really not be in the room when it is going cause it is like being chased and then you need to jump out of it's way otherwise it turns the other way and maybe won't clean that spot as well. I tried to run it in my kitchen the first night while I was putting away dishes and cleaning in there. If you guys could have seen that, none of you would have made it through the whole episode without peeing your pants. Honestly.

I think every woman should have one of these.